Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this issue. I will begin the way I began my previous speech on affordable housing in January. In A Programme for A Partnership Government, the Government made a promise in respect of "Providing affordable, quality and accessible housing for our people is a priority for the New Partnership Government". In fact, this is the very first line under the general vow to end the housing shortage and homelessness. There is no doubt about it; we are going around in circles. We have been here before on many occasions. I have raised this issue on the floor of the Dáil, but nothing seems to have changed. Affordable housing in Ireland is basically a myth. The demand for accommodation is far in excess of the supply and housing providers are totally taking advantage of this situation. Yesterday, some new figures were released about the homelessness crisis. As previous speakers indicated, there are 10,000 homeless people in our country. Over 3,000 of those are children. That figure is approximately equal to the combined populations of Clonakilty and Bantry in my constituency, Cork South-West. This has gone far beyond crisis point. It does not seem that the Government is living up the promise it made in 2011, when Fine Gael came to office. A total of 3,744 people were homeless at that time. This was also unacceptable, but it was much better than the current situation. To put that figure into perspective, it equates roughly to the population of the town of Macroom in north-west Cork.

I accept and acknowledge that this crisis is not purely of the Minister's making. Previous Ministers and Governments are responsible for the mess in which we find ourselves. We do not just need to create more housing, we must also make that housing affordable for people on all incomes. Last year's €90 million help-to-buy scheme is driving up house prices and doing the opposite to what was intended. There is an urgent need to compulsorily purchase and develop land and to free up landbanks in key areas of demand that are currently tied up in NAMA. The Government should also reintroduce the affordable housing scheme that the previous Fine Gael-led Administration wrongly scrapped in 2012.

All the schemes that the Minister's predecessors in government introduced were aimed at first-time buyers. He is leaving behind those who fell victim to the economic downturn, those whose houses were repossessed or sold due to the huge and unattainable mortgages given to them by the banks and those who are trying to start again but are not considered first-time buyers. I hope the Minister can take theses people into consideration too and allow them a second chance at owning their own homes. I will admit that many people in my constituency have been seeking information on the council loan to assist buyers, recently called the Rebuilding Ireland scheme. In fairness, this is very positive.

They hope they may now see some light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel for them down through the years. There are still obstacles to be removed but at least there is a move in the right direction. People were being refused loans by the banks on the grounds that they were not earning enough and then going to the council only to be told they were earning too much. This scheme at least seems to be recognising people's incomes. I hope it works out.

I hope affordable housing does not end up like affordable sites in my local authority area. I live in Schull, where there was an affordable site sold in the past year for top dollar. It was supposed to be affordable. There is a large number of houses in the area. The children are going to the local school and the parents are working locally, supporting the locality. I cannot understand why the site in question did not remain affordable. In a place like Schull, it is almost impossible to buy a site.

Young people are looking for light at the end of the tunnel to start their lives. What has been occurring has been a blight for many young people. Another issue that needs to be tackled concerns the many young people seeking planning permission to start off their lives. Every obstacle is being put before them. There is no help. In one case in south-west Cork, there is a planner who will not sit down to engage in pre-planning with young people seeking planning permission. To me, that is part of the job and if the person is not willing to do it he or she should be removed from the position. One wants to give people an opportunity to start their lives and one should not put obstacles in front of them. Some people are quite reasonable if you sit them down and say a house cannot be located in a certain location, for example. At least that gives those affected an opportunity.

In the past week alone, nine people called to my constituency offices and clinics telling me they had planning permission issues. That is an extraordinary number in one week alone. The area covered is from Kinsale all the way back to Beara Peninsula. One after another is coming with a planning issue. We are trying to plead on their behalf. They are young people trying to get their lives off to a start. If they do not get planning permission and are continually refused, where will they go? They will be put on the social housing list. This will complicate the problem again.

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